Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 297

ANDREAS VESALIUS (1514-1564) Anatomicarum Gabrielis Falloppii observationum examen. Apud Franciscum de Franciscis, Senensem 1564 [4] 171 pp. 21.6 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 280

Fallopius, Vesalius' pupil and a later occupant of the chair of anatomy at Padua, had published his Observationes anatomicae in 1561 (see No. 331). In it he pointed out certain errors of his teacher. Three days after receiving a copy of Fallopius' work, Vesalius began a letter to his devoted pupil, and it is that letter which prefaces this work of Vesalius in which he discusses the differences in their anatomical findings. Fallopius was never harshly critical of Vesalius and, indeed, was always most respectful in his corrections of the man whom he called "the prince of anatomists . . . and divine teacher." Vesalius' reply was written in kind: he acknowledges the preeminence of Fallopius as an anatomist, praises his discoveries, and defends or admits graciously his own errors and lapses. He says of Fallopius' work, "It might almost be called an appendix to my De humani corporis fabrica." By the time Vesalius' reply was published, both he and Fallopius were dead. This first edition of his last work is very rare, few copies being known in the United States or abroad, and it almost never appears for sale.

See Related Record(s): 331

Cited references: Cushing V114; Cushing Vesalius IX.-1; Durling 4575; Wellcome 6564 (1609 ed.)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.